Today’s Real Mom Dilemma is from Mama K and one we struggled with ourselves – air travel with baby! I posted about the things you need to bring along when air traveling with your little one but Mama K really seeks advice on how to travel with the babe. Someone has to have the solution or at least an experience to share right?? If you are new to The Wise Baby, Real Mom Dilemmas are real problems that come from real moms. We post them here in hopes that our other mom readers can lend their advice and experience to help another mom out. Be sure to leave a comment on this post with your advice, experience or even issues of your own. If you have a dilemma you’d like to see featured, send it to me here (we never use real names!).
Hi all! I am really hoping someone out there has some good advice for me or can at least bring some clarity to the situation… my husband and I planning a “spring break” getaway to Naples, FL with our baby boy, Joey. Joey will be nine months at the time of travel and we will be flying and renting a car. I need to book our airfare but am totally conflicted – do I buy him a seat or have him sit on our lap? The flight is about three hours (direct, thank goodness).
If we get him buy Joey his own seat, we’ll bring his carseat and snap n go stroller. I have checked and his carseat is FAA approved and I can gate check the stroller. This sounds great but a) is it a total pain to lug our carseat on the plane? b) is it worth it to buy an additional seat??
If he sits on our lap, what do we do about a carseat when we arrive in Naples? I know there are car rental companies that rent carseats but I have heard firsthand horror stories from friends about disgustingly dirty seats, old and outdated seats, not knowing if the seat has been in an accident, etc BUT I have also had friends that have had good experiences. So is it just a roll of the dice? (which I do not like because knowing my luck I would get a dirty one!). I also do not like the idea of checking our seat… I feel like it will get ruined with how baggage handlers handle luggage (am I overreacting?!?)
I would really love to hear anyone’s advice and/or experience with this! I owe you all one! 
Thanks so much.
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hi Mama K,
So we just travelled for the first time with our little one, so I feel your struggle! In the end we in the end decided to not by the extra seat. It was a two hour flight and I picked a morning flight during her usual bottle time. She took the bottle and slept on my lap most of the way! We also rented a car, but I opted NOT to use one of the rental car seats. Instead, we gate checked our car seat. Was totally painless! Dropped the car seat at the door of the plane and by the time we made it out, it was at the door waiting for us!
Great advice on gate checking the car seat Adira! Also good advice on picking a time that is normal bottle and nap time – thanks for sharing your experience!
Hi there! I have traveled quite a bit with my now 18 month old daughter. Up until she was 12 months I never bought a seat and the only reason I started too was because she was getting too big and antsy to sit on our laps! Like Adria, I gate checked our car seat (with car seat stroller) and never had any problems. I brought a base in my suit case (packed at the top) so we could easily pop it in the rental car. I never had any problems and traveled upwards of 10 times. Since she is bigger now we don’t have to bring her car seat but we do bring the CARES harness (http://kidsflysafe.com/) and it works great! Good luck!
Hi Allison, thanks for sharing your extensive experience and the CARES harness. I am glad to hear you have used and it has worked for you!
My recommendation is to NOT rent a car seat! I had a terrible experience in getting one that was disgustingly dirty and even the car rental agency apologized but said it was all they had… of course, I was in a total bind and had to use it. Like the other two ladies said I would gate check your seat or purchase the extra seat. If you flight is longer than 2-3 hours it may be worth it to give you or your husband a break from holding your little guy in a tiny seat! I would not suggest checking your seat as it would could get destroyed from baggage handlers or worse you really don’t know what will happen to it… Hope this is helpful.
Thanks for sharing your insight Josie – what a tough situation you were in with the rental car seat… good point about not checking your car seat too. I agree, you never know what they’ll do with it!
I don’t have experience myself yet, but I am a huge fan of the blog “mommy points”, a boarding area blog. The writer is a mother of a toddler and travels extensively. She writes about traveling with a small child (and other topics).. I highly recommend you check out sw of her posts discussing the pros and cons of the questions you raise.
I flew twice before my son was 3 months. My preferred way was to check the carseat and base when we checked in. They put the seat/base in a large plastic bag and all was fine! I still used a snap and go stroller to carry our stuff and wore my baby in the bjorn. It was really great not having to haul our bags and i gate checkrd the stroller. Good luck!
We traveled across the country with our little one when he was 3 months old, and will be taking him to Naples when he is 9 months, ironically enough. I would say to not buy him his own seat—just bring lots of things to entertain him, and some “new” items he hasn’t seen before that will keep his attention. For our little guy, that would include kitchen spoons, spatulas etc. He loves that stuff as much as toys at the moment. Gate check your carseat and your snap n go—we did that on our way to San Franciso (connection in Chicago) and it was so easy. Pushed him right down to the plane in his stroller, and then checked it right there and it was waiting for us as soon as we got off the plane. Like someone stated above, we packed our carseat base in the top of our suitcase, also. It sounds like a lot to deal with, but I promise it sounds much more stressful than it is! Good luck!